The Relationship among the Five Indriyas

The body faculty (kāya-indriya) includes the organs and parts of the body; anything that grows on the body is part of the body faculty. The eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are located on the head of the body and are part of the body faculty. However, when the eyes perform the function of seeing, they are the eye faculty, not the body faculty; when the ears perform the function of hearing, they are the ear faculty, not part of the body faculty; when the nose performs the function of smelling scents, it is the nose faculty, not part of the body faculty; when the tongue performs the function of tasting flavors, it is the tongue faculty, not part of the body faculty.

Do the eyes belong to the eye faculty or the body faculty? Do the ears belong to the ear faculty or the body faculty? Does the nose belong to the nose faculty or the body faculty? Does the tongue belong to the tongue faculty or the body faculty? Is blinking the function of the body faculty or the eye faculty? Is it the activity of the body consciousness or the eye consciousness? Blinking is movement of the body faculty, an action of the body consciousness, not of the eye consciousness. The function of the eye consciousness is to see forms; blinking is not seeing forms—it is the activity of a certain part of the body. Although it is the activity of the eyes, it does not involve seeing forms, so it is not the function of the eye consciousness. When the eyes, ears, nose, and tongue are not performing the functions of seeing forms, hearing sounds, smelling scents, or tasting flavors, these four faculties, being situated on the body faculty, belong to the body faculty. Only when they perform their own respective functions are they their own respective faculties; when they are not performing their own functions, they belong to the body faculty.

By the same principle, when the ear aches, it is the function of the body faculty and the feeling of the body consciousness, not the function of the ear faculty, nor the feeling of the ear consciousness. Because the ear faculty performs the function of hearing sounds, only when the ear consciousness hears sounds is there a feeling; whereas pain is a feeling on the body faculty. The same is true of an itchy nose, and the same is true of a painful tongue—all are feelings of the body consciousness. If the nose is cut off, the tongue is cut off, the ears are cut off, or the eyes are damaged, these are all acts of harming the body faculty; if the functions of the respective faculties are also damaged at the same time, it is equivalent to harming the eye faculty, ear faculty, nose faculty, and tongue faculty as well.